"The president understands renegade judges and mayors are taking the law into their own hands, against the will of the people," said Don Wildmon, chairman of American Family Association. He added that a million people signed a petition asking Bush to take such action.

A constitutional amendment must pass both houses of Congress by two-thirds majorities — and then must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. The process often takes years.

Amendments with wording Bush favors have been introduced in both the House and Senate. The House version has 112 cosponsors (including Cannon — who predicts a "flurry of more co-sponsoring" now). In that 435-member body, a two-thirds majority requires 290 votes. The Senate version has eight co-sponsors. A two-thirds majority there requires 67 votes.

The proposed amendment reads: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

A CNN-Gallup poll conducted last week found those polled said by a 64 to 32 percent margin that gay marriages should not be recognized by law.

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E-mail: leed@dgsys.com